Candidates commit to MSNBC
Williams, Matthews moderate debates
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It's a major coup for the third-ranked cable news net, which appears to have won the sweepstakes for the first made-for-TV events of the 2008 election cycle.
"The critical pivots in elections generally happen at these times," said MSNBC veep and "Hardball" producer Tammy Haddad. "For the lesser-known candidates, it's their chance to shine and show they're just as good as the No. 1 person in the polls."
NBC's Brian Williams will anchor "Nightly News" from the campus of South Carolina State U. in Orangeburg on Thursday and then moderate the first debate among Democrats.
MSNBC's "Hardball" anchor Chris Matthews will moderate the Republican debate the following Thursday at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.
MSNBC announced back in January that it would air the first debates of the 2008 cycle, but then CNN skedded two nearly a month earlier in April.
Those debates fell through when front-runners like Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney bowed out rather than give lesser-known opponents the opportunity to engage on a level platform.
Those debates, scheduled to take place in New Hampshire, were rescheduled for August. Fox News also had a Democratic debate scheduled for August that was scuttled when the Nevada Democrats pulled the plug.
Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus have a Democratic debate scheduled for September, but the major candidates have yet to commit.
With three cable networks and the broadcast nets vying for debates, and hundreds of political organizations and state parties trying to sponsor them, the candidates have been deluged with requests, making it uncertain if any of the announced events would actually materialize.
MSNBC made sure the invitations were ones that candidates would find very hard to refuse. The Democratic debate is being sponsored by the South Carolina state party, an influential group in a state that holds the first presidential primary in the South. Joe Biden, Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson have committed to the debate.
The Republican debate is being held in the Reagan Library, important to Republicans for its obvious symbolism, and the candidates were personally invited to participate by Nancy Reagan. Confirmed Republicans include Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Tommy Thompson.
There will be no opening or closing statements, just the candidates' reactions to questions and to each other.
Both MSNBC and NBC News are planning to make the most of it.
For NBC "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams, it's a plum opportunity to build prestige at a time he's under challenge from ABC's Charles Gibson in the ratings.
On both days -- April 26 and May 3 -- MSNBC will originate its entire day of programming from the site of the debates, treating it much like a sporting event, with extensive pre- and post-debate coverage.
On MSNBC.com, viewers get the chance to "rate the debate" to give their impressions before and after the faceoff.
MSNBC will release video of the debate to other networks but with strict rules for its use.
Aside from the news nets, online is getting into the act. Yahoo!, the Huffington Post and Slate announced they, too, would host a debate, conducted online and moderated by PBS's Charlie Rose.
Scheduled for Labor Day and targeted at young voters, the organizers will allow viewers to submit questions directly to the candidates in text form, or even pose the question by uploading video.
